For over four centuries, opera has continually reinvented itself by experimenting with new ideas and adapting to evolving tastes.

Greek mythology, with its timeless themes of love, heroism, and the divine, has inspired composers to write operas throughout the centuries.

Giuseppe Verdi is regarded as one of the greatest opera composers who played a pivotal role in shaping the evolution of Italian opera during the 19th century.

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s work stands out as among the greatest in Russian repertoire.

A man of the Enlightenment, Mozart is not a political animal; he has a sharp eye on the world around him.

Czech composer Leoš Janáček is a unique musical voice with an uncanny ability to suggest mood with just a few notes, an understated but passionate lyricism, and an emotional charge to his operas as powerful as any in the 20th century.

Gioacchino Rossini is considered one of the most talented Italian composers of his time and his best known for his comic operas.

Giacomo Puccini is regarded as the greatest Italian composer of the generation after Giuseppe Verdi.

Composer Richard Wagner, despite the controversies surrounding his life and political views, bestrides German opera like a colossus.

Stanisław Moniuszko is generally regarded as the founder of Polish national opera and the most important composer of the 19th century after Chopin.

Britten's operas explore profound human experiences that continue to captivate audiences around the world with their touching portrayal of the human condition.

The first ever operas were written around 1600 by baroque composers, including Monteverdi and Cavalieri, who used dramatic text and music to express their stories, which were often based on Classical Greek and Roman mythology.

Orpheus has became the emblem of the artist who rises above earthly worries and brings us closer to eternal truths.

In partnership with young artists’ programmes in Europe and beyond, OperaVision streams performances, masterclasses, and concerts by the next generation of talent, as well as follow them through a new podcast series.

Soprano is the highest operatic voice and the most common in the female range.

Mezzo-soprano, or ‘half-soprano’ is the female voice that stands between the soprano and the contralto.

Working alongside the conductor, director and the rest of the creative team, the opera designer creates the space in which the opera will be ‘set’.

Diverse and dramatic, opera costumes are the first thing to appear in the spotlight, even before the performer has sung a note.

The Italian for ‘beautiful singing’ is used to describe Italian opera of the first part of the 19th century. Three pre-eminent Italian composers of that era are Rossini, Donizetti and Bellini.

The Phantom of the Opera? It's not just in musicals that you'll find ghosts. Opera as its share of haunted houses too.

Opera is certainly not the most tender artform to women. Between sacrifices, rapes, forced marriages, illnesses, suicides or even murders, women are often presented as the victims of a destiny. Here we focus on female roles who stand out by virtue of their strong, independent and enterprising character.

Tenors in opera frequently take the leading male role. They are said to have irresistible charm - on and off stage!